It seems imperative to demonstrate the relative efficiency of different treatment forms for the 50 year and older person who needs out-patient help for coping with his environment. However, there is little knowledge about effective therapy for this age group. Mental health professionals have been resistant to doing controlled research with older persons, a resistance which is no longer tolerable since this group comprises approximately 24.8% of the adult population of the United States. Hospitals and nursing homes have been virtually the only alternative for this age group. The proposed study is based, first, on a longitudinal study of senescence which established that stability of intellectual functioning extends into the eighth decade of life. The voluminous literature on depression in old age hardly deals with the evaluation of differing intervention modalities. Since we have established that intellectual functioning does not deteriorate during late life, one of the obstacles to the use of psychotherapy is removed. The objective of the study is, therefore, to evaluate alternate modes of treatment and to test the hypothesis that psychotherapy can alter depression and its concomitant symptoms in persons between 60 and 73 years. Subjects will be 144 persons between 60 and 73, of average IQ, with no diagnosed brain damage or psychiatric hospitalization. Six treatment modalities will be tested: Drug, drug and group, open-ended group, theme-centered group, social milieu, and control. Each therapy will have two duration groups, one for 15 and one for 30 weeks. Testing will be done before and after therapy, and at the respective six month follow-up interval. The project, a multi-disciplinary effort, aims to develop economically feasible short term methods to ameliorate effects associated with depression; prevent unnecessary hospitalization; encourage mental health professionals to treat persons over 50 hopefully and to provide data leading to the establishment of viable programs in clinical gerontology.